Just a thought, but to compliment the fantastic graphics and gameplay a bit of 5.1 wouldn't go a miss?

True. But are there any portable standards? I know EAX/A3D works in Windows, but what about Mac/Linux?

Maybe OpenAL: http://www.openal.org/

What do you think, devs? Worth the effort? The sound effects are good stereo, but true 3d sound would add alot of depth to the experience.

(BTW, "5.1 surround" sound doesn't guarantee that the channels are properly making 3-d sound.. It's a bit more complicated than that, but EAX/A3D/OpenAL seem to handle it..)

They don't use OpenAL. They have their own sound driver. If they wanted, ALSA is capable of surround sound.

Right, but as I said, "surround" doesn't mean "3-d". They have to use something else to do that. And OpenAL is capable of that, and it's cross-platform (at least on the Big Three - Mac/Win/Lin).

And you don't need surround sound to create 3-d sound. In the right setting, two speakers can do very convincing spatial sound, using all the interaural delay tricks etc.

http://www.edn.com/archives/1996/060696/12df2.htm